Arm AL5C controled by microchip?

Lynxmotion Robot Arms
1

Hi everyone (sorry for my english),
I’m going to build a robot in order to pick up balls on the ground or in height.
I’m very interested in the arm AL5C to pick up the balls but my robot have to be autonomous. So i can’t use my computer to guide the arm.

I’m a beginer and I understood that I can control the arm with a computer but is it possible to control the arm with a microchip ? And if it’s possible, do you think it’s complicated ?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

Yes the arm can be controlled by any device that is capable of sending a command. Some examples are the PC, microcontrollers (MCU) PDA’s etc…

Autonomous control is easy, but intelligent autonomous control is a challenge. For the arm to pick up objects dynamically on it’s own it’s going to require some sort of vision system. The easiest would perhaps be a scanning sonar using a PING sensor that can sweep an area looking for objects. IR sensors could be used, and even video cameras which are great for object identification: an example would be finding different color objects.

3

Ok thank you for your response.
So I need to buy just :

  • “AL5C Arm No Electronics Kit (without arm electronic and software)” and i will create the electronic to control servo,
    or I need to buy the all thing:
  • AL5C Robotic Arm Combo Kit for Serial Port and after I will send a signal from a microcontroller to the electronic arm ??

It’s true it’s a chalenge but we are a team and no everyone is a newbie like me :smiley: . We 're using a video camera to know where is the object but now we need to pick it up with a arm… it’s a chalenge.

Thanks.

4

Personally, I recommend getting the full arm WITH servos and electronics. This is a package that is ready to accept commands for the arm from ANY source. (Serial). Use a computer, a PDA, or a microcontroller to issue commands.

A big advantage is that you will have a ‘known-good’ quantity with the arm, and support is available. (No, I don’t get a percentage of sales LOL)

5

Agree, getting the complete kit with servos and electronics will save you some trouble, plus, you will get better support since so many people are familiar with the SSC-32 and the BB2 boards.

So you will need:
The arm
The SSC-32 (For serial communications)
Optionally the BB2 with the Atom Pro processor (For MCU control)

The SSC-32 can be controlled via RS232 Serial comms or via TTL comms if using Microcontrollers, PDAs or any other device capable of communicating with a TTL interface.

The arm can also be made to run autonomously using the BB2 and the Atom Pro Processor combined with the SSC-32. The Atom Pro MCU, would be the computer running the software sending commands to the SSC-32 for motion control and sensor data processing.

6

Hi,

I agree with SN96 and kdwyer that it would be easier to get a Total package including Electronics. Take a look at one of my projects. It includes a rover with AL5B (and D) arm. Both arm and rover are controlled with a PS2 remote. No PC involved.

The arm part including Inverse Kinematics calculations can be easy subtracted from the code. The thing you need to do if you go with this is to change the PS2 control to Autonomous contol. This could be a whole challenge depending on what you want to do with it.

Anyway, here is the build tutorial incl a link to the software in step 15.

Let me know if there are any questions.

Xan